Ensuring food safety in schools

At the start of the new school year, food safety in kitchens of day-boarding schools has received special public attention.

Reporters from Dong Nai Newspaper and Radio, Television had a discussion with MSc. VO THI NGOC LAM, Deputy Director of Dong Nai Department of Health, about this issue.

Strengthening surprise inspections and checks

Deputy Director of Dong Nai Department of Health Vo Thi Ngoc Lam.

* What plans does the Dong Nai health sector have to ensure food safety in kitchens of day-boarding schools?

- The health sector always considers ensuring food safety in schools a key task, because even a very small lapse in the entire process can result in unpredictable consequences, affecting the health of hundreds of students.

Right at the beginning of the school year, we issued an inter-sectoral inspection plan on food safety, focusing on kitchens of day-boarding schools, canteens, and catering service providers. At the same time, we have coordinated with the Department of Education and Training and local authorities to guide schools to only select food suppliers with full legal documentation and clear origins. We have also organized training sessions, required regular health checks for kitchen staff, while parents have been mobilized to supervise to ensure transparency.”

* How do you assess the food safety situation in kitchens of boarding schools across the province recently?

- Ensuring food safety in kitchens of day-boarding schools has shown many positive changes. Most schools have invested in one-way kitchens, signed contracts with qualified suppliers with clear invoices. Awareness of staff, teachers, catering staff, and parents has clearly increased.

However, some issues remain: some schools still lack proper facilities for food storage, food sample retention or staff training is still formalistic, and some depend on pre-packaged meals, which poses risks during transportation. Therefore, this school year, tightening supervision, increasing training, and raising responsibility for food safety at each link will be a top priority.”

* How is inspection conducted for food service providers outside schools?

- The health sector closely coordinates with related units to strictly implement directives of the provincial People’s Committee on ensuring food safety. The Department of Health will continue to strengthen post-inspections, especially at high-risk facilities, strictly handling and publicly reporting violations.

We are also continuing to build a pilot model on food safety in collective kitchens, promoting self-inspection and self-monitoring. At the same time, regular sample testing is conducted to detect risks early.

Dong Nai is implementing a project related to origin tracing of animal-derived food, which requires suppliers to have contracts, invoices, and legal origin.”

In the 2025-2026 school year, the province has more than 1,300 schools of all levels with over 1.2 million students, about 50% of schools provide meals for day-boarders.

Minimizing food poisoning

* When food poisoning occurs in schools, who bears the main responsibility?”

- Responsibility first lies with the school and the meal/collective kitchen providers, as they directly organize and supervise meals. The education sector manages facilities, the health sector is responsible for expertise and handling incidents, and other sectors join hands to monitor the supply chain.

Regarding sanctions, there is a system ranging from administrative fines, suspension of operation, to criminal prosecution. However, I believe deterrence should be further strengthened, especially strict control of food from the input stage. We are determined to publicly disclose inspection results in the press to raise community awareness.

Kitchen staff at Dinh Tien Hoang Primary-Secondary-High School (Tam Hiep ward) portion meals for day-boarders. Photo: Hanh Dung

* What are the potential food safety risks in collective kitchens that are often overlooked, and what is the standard procedure for ensuring safety?

- There are three major risk groups: unclear food origin; improper storage conditions; and inadequate personal hygiene of catering staff, ranging from unwashed hands to reused gloves. These risks are difficult to detect visually and are easily overlooked, but can cause serious consequences.

The standard procedure includes: only selecting safe ingredients with clear origin and full certification, proper transportation and storage, separating raw and cooked food, a one-way kitchen layout with clearly designated areas, health checks and training provided to the staff, strict compliance with personal hygiene, portioning food immediately after cooking, consuming within the day, and keeping 24-hour food samples.

Schools need to set up kitchen supervision teams with tracking records. If strictly followed, this will help maximize the prevention of food poisoning.

* What recommendations do you have for schools, parents, and the community to jointly ensure food safety this new school year?

- We recommend that schools strictly comply with food safety regulations, develop safe menus, select reputable food suppliers, operate kitchens according to regulations, implement three-step meal checks, and retain food samples for 24 hours.

Parents should pay attention and supervise meals at day-boarding schools, educate children on healthy eating habits. If any health abnormalities are noticed after eating, they should immediately report them to teachers and health authorities.

The community needs to raise awareness of consuming safe food, forming a ‘food safety culture.’ Only when all parties work together can we ensure that each school meal is safe, nutritious, contributing to protecting the health and future of young generations.

*Thank you!

By: Binh Huong - Hanh Dung

Translated by: Minh Hanh - Thu Ha